Study: Nonprofits flocking to social media

While your local doctor likely won’t be “tweeting” your diagnosis in an 140-character snippet anytime soon, SouthCoast Hospitals Group is among local entities to venture into the brave new world of social networking.

By Jay Pateakos

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Jay Pateakos

Posted Jun. 17, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 17, 2009 at 5:00 PM

By Jay Pateakos

Posted Jun. 17, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 17, 2009 at 5:00 PM

» Social News

While your local doctor likely won’t be “tweeting” your diagnosis in an 140-character snippet anytime soon, SouthCoast Hospitals Group is among local entities to venture into the brave new world of social networking.

From blogging to “tweeting” to Facebooking, a soon-to-be-released University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research study on America’s largest charities and their experience with social media shows an overwhelming increase in its use during the past two years, a trend that has begun to emerge in local charities and nonprofits.

The study, conducted by CMR Director Nora Ganim Barnes and marketing consultant Eric Mattson, found 89 percent of charitable and nonprofit organizations are using some form of social media: blogs, Facebook, Twitter and others. Fifty-seven percent reported activity in blogging.

“The extent to which these not-for-profits are using social media appears to be a case study in the timely adoption of new technology. A closer look shows how they maximize the effectiveness of these tools,” said Barnes. “Comparing the 2007 and 2008 data, it becomes clear that there has been significant improvement as we look at the implementation of the most popular tool, blogging. For volunteers/donors looking to have a conversation online about particular aspects of a charity’s mission, this increased interaction through comments can be significant.”

Barnes stressed that social media use by nonprofits is eclipsing any other business’s use of the relatively new media category.

“Social media is an important part of the marketing strategy for U.S. charities and nonprofits. They are outpacing businesses and even academic institutions in their familiarity, use and monitoring activity,” said Barnes. “These organizations have found a new and exciting way to win the hearts, and maybe the dollars, of potential donors.”

Katie Sweitzer, UMass Center for the University, School and Community Partnerships research associate, said her center’s blog, established to connect the center with K-12 teachers, helps provide the groups with ongoing dialogue both find vital.

“We find out about teachers’ concerns and we get to provide information back and forth that helps us to both interact and generate conversation and dialogue,” said Sweitzer. “Its popularity depends on the age group, because not every age group gets into it. The younger crowd is very into it, and the older people read it and appreciate that there is something there for them. For those in our age group, we have grown up around Twitter and Facebook and there is no learning curve, but for older people, there’s a big gap.”

But according to the CMR study, that gap is growing smaller by the year, as companies see the low-cost social media opportunity as a way to market their projects or services without breaking the bank.

Southcoast Hospitals Group has also recently plunged into the world of social media, using Twitter during the past two months and, more recently, Facebook as a means to disseminate health-related information.

“Twitter helps to push information out to people faster and more conveniently than any other medium. It helps us to stay in touch with our community in an easy and convenient way,” said Jim Rattray, vice president of Marketing and Public Affairs for Southcoast Health System, who used snow cancellations as another example of Twitter’s best use.

“Facebook allows for more information and allows people to come together in the same place, another way to stay connected to people and provide information on resources and services that is convenient and efficient.”

Since signing the hospital system up for Twitter, Rattray reports in just a few months, participation has more than quadrupled.

“People are looking for ways to get news quickly, and with Twitter and Facebook, it allows us to bring this information to people in real time,” said Rattray. “It’s a much better consumer experience where you get what you want when you want it and you decide if you want to join.”

According to a 2008 Technorati State of the Blogosphere Report, there are a total of 184 million blogs worldwide and a total of 94.1 million people reading blogs on a continuous basis. But with the activity comes upkeep, and though social media can save companies money in marketing, it’s not a low-maintenance undertaking.

“It’s another way for these nonprofits to communicate and get their message out, especially those that are struggling with money because all of this is basically free,” said Lee Blake, director of UMass Dartmouth’s SouthCoast Education Compact. Blake recently helped launch a breakfast series aimed at helping nonprofits find tools to become more successful.

“But free doesn’t mean easy. It takes a major commitment with people needing to keep it up to date. In order to do a blog, you have to have someone managing it.”

United Way of Greater New Bedford Director of Marketing Caroline Cuccia said her nonprofit created a Facebook page last year that has grown to more than 360 members. She hopes to continue improving the page and getting into more social media as time and staffing allow.

“It’s a way for people to get information on our organization, look at pictures and make donations. There’s a segment of the population that pretty much exists on-line and we need to tap into that,” said Cuccia. “All it costs is time and that’s something we can use a high school volunteer for.”

But like Blake, Cuccia said it’s important, yet time-consuming, to keep up.

“We’re hoping to have someone here full-time that can explore different ways to make the page more robust in order to generate new donations,” said Cuccia. “It’s a new way of being out in front of people to tell them about yourself. We’re happy to be part of anything that can make you more available to people. This is the way people communicate now.”